"So, Terraria. Not exactly a local sounding place." Kaeya broke the silence between the two as they walked through the streets of Mondstadt, resting his hands behind his head as he strode along.
"You'd be correct. I'm not too sure about that blond girl, Lumine, but I'm fairly certain that I am not native to this place." Phineas gestured all around with his hands. "It was a beautiful place, I'd say that the landscape of Mondstadt is quite similar to Terraria's, just without everything trying to kill you at every turn."
"Sounds… hostile." Kaeya commented.
The two left the gates of Mondstadt, the sun had now set over the land and dusk had come. Walking across the bridge, they had scared away more pigeons that had somehow decided to come back after Stormterror's attack.
"Are you sure we should be out this late? There's usually monsters wanting to tear you limb from limb." Phineas asked, cautious for Kaeya's safety.
"I don't know what it's like where you come from, but aside from the usual Slime or Hilichurl camp, Teyvat, or at the very least, Mondstadt, is relatively as tame in the nighttime as it is during the day."
Phineas visibly relaxed "That's good, I was worried we were going to have to fight our way there the entire time."
"Unless we see anything suspicious, I doubt we'll have to." They reached the end of the bridge, and Kaeya pointed towards the path in front of them. "The temple is along this path, as long as we stick to it, we'll be there in no time, and then we can head home to rest, and plan our next steps against Stormterror."
Phineas pointed to a structure protruding out of the cliff face about a hundred meters in front of them, "Is that the place we're supposed to be going?"
Kaeya shook his head, "No, that's the temple of the Falcon, Outrider Amber and Lumine's target. Ours is much further away."
Phineas nodded in acknowledgement and started following Kaeya, trailing behind a bit. Kicking his feet around as he walked, he looked to his right. That large tree again. He thought back to when he was there and interacted with the statue under the tree, and that strange energy he felt from it.
Phineas coughed slightly to get Kaeya's attention. "So, you see that tree over there?"
"Yeah, Windrise. What about it?" Kaeya responded.
"Ah, Windrise, I see, alright. I was wondering—what's the statue beneath the tree for? I felt an energy from it." Phineas asked.
"The statue, eh? That's one of the Statues of the Seven. There are multiple of them throughout Mondstadt, they predate anyone living today, no one is sure where they came from."
"The Seven?"
"Oh, you're really not from here, right…" Kaeya fumbled awkwardly for a moment.
"The Seven are Archons, or 'gods', each serving as a 'leader' of each elemental power in Teyvat…" Kaeya continued.
"The statues themselves are linked to the elements of their Archon, so each Archon will know whenever their statues are interacted with."
"I… see…" Phineas slowly said, suddenly flashing back to when he first interacted with the statue.
'I probably shouldn't have fired foreign magic into that statue… the Archon could be mad…' Phineas thought to himself before continuing.
"Say, Kaeya, what is Mondstadt's Archon like?"
"Barbatos, or the Anemo God, is a freedom loving God, generally allowing his denizens to act on their own accord… He's held in high reverence, but unlike Liyue or Inazuma, he hasn't been seen in a couple centuries." Kaeya said.
"Why hasn't he been-" Phineas was saying before being cut off as a yell followed by the snap of taut string flung an arrow in the two men's direction.
The arrow fell short, landing a few meters away from them.
"Hilichurls!" Kaeya yelled, materializing a sword adorned with wings, a blue gem shining near the hilt seemingly appearing out of thin air.
Five 'Hilichurls' were in front of them, two seemed similar to the one who fired the arrow, but wielding wooden clubs, wearing simpler gray and brown garb rather than the bright red fire bandana that the crossbow wielder wore.
The other two were… different. One was huge, nearly twice as tall as he or Kaeya were, wielding a shield that is equally as it was. Another was rather short, carrying a strange blue-ish green staff.
"I've got the one with the shield! Get the Shaman before he summons any anemo attacks!" Kaeya yelled again at Phineas.
Phineas was sure the Shaman was the one with the staff.
In a small flash of light multiple swords materialize and spin around the main sword he is pulling out from a sheath like a flower of blades. Swinging his arm, the sword's blade fractured, launching its component blades in an elliptical path towards the right side of the Shaman. The Shaman began frantically dancing, whirling its staff in a circular motion, creating a miniature tornado about as tall as he was, sending the blades up into the air, leaving the Shaman unharmed for a moment.
The blades flew in a similar path again from another angle, hitting the Shaman from the top, its body turning black before turning into dust, blowing into the wind.
The other Hilichurls were enraged at the death of their Shaman, while the crossbow wielder primed to fire another a shot, the club wielders charged towards him.
He charged to meet the club wielders head on, but came sliding to a stop as something round, green, and slimey landed in the crossfire. The object thrashed before exploding in a violent cloud of spores and razor-sharp leaves.
Turning to look towards where it came from, he saw Kaeya dodge another slimy bomb. Just before he had to bring the Zenith up to block a swing from a club.
Kaeya raced towards the Mitachurl, the grass crunching beneath his feet as it froze slightly to the presence of his Cryo powers.
Attempting to disorient it, he slashed at the side of the shield a few times, but it did not work. The Mitachurl pushed him back with the shield, sending him to the ground a few meters away.
Mildly annoyed, he stood up, realizing he'd have to get serious. With his sword in his right hand, he made an almost prayer like motion, doing a gripping motion with his left hand, a ball of Cryo power appeared, before he snapped his hands to his sides, putting a ring consisting of four icicles around him, before beginning to slash at the shield again.
"Cool it!" He yelled, flinging even more icicles at the shield, seemingly breaking some portions off it, but breaking the shield enough to leave the Mitachurl unguarded.
The icicle ring kept hitting the shield, preventing the Mitachurl from protecting himself from potential other angles. Kaeya slashed at the shield four more times, before in a blink of an eye, he appeared behind the Mitachurl, slicing it on the back of the neck, it too similarly turning into black ash, blowing into the wind too.
Hearing the sounds of combat, he turns to see Phineas regather the various blades, refusing them together into the Zenith before letting go as it hovers above. He stretched both his arms out to his side as the Zenith mimicked his actions with two blades of its own.
Bringing his hands together in front of him with a loud clap as his palms met, the Zenith's two outstretched blades flew together and clashed, cutting down the remaining charging Hilichurls like a large cut from shears. Their top and bottom halves separating before turning black and dissipating into the air.
The blades then spun together before gunning right for the Hilichurl with the crossbow, impaling it through the chest. Its body went limp as it too turned black and broke down, leaving behind a fractured mask where it once stood.
Kaeya swiped his sword, cleaning off anything off the blade of his sword, before tossing it into the air, dematerializing it back into some unknown space. He walked over to the dropped mask and picked it up before tossing it to Phineas.
"Good fight! Though…" Kaeya trailed.
Phineas caught the mask inspecting it for a little before placing it into his inventory for later. "It was! What were you going to say?"
"Your blade, how interesting… I couldn't quite see what you did during your battle with Stormterror exactly, but this blade you have currently seems different from the one you used then… curious…" Kaeya said inquisitively.
"Ah, this thing?" Phineas said, unsheathing the sword again.
The Zenith. The pinnacle of weaponry he ever personally forged. He rotated the blade, facing the flat side of the blade towards himself, his face reflecting in the blade. It represented his entire story up to that point, he came from nothing, just a man with some tools made of flimsy copper, finding more and more blades, culminating in this blade unlike any other he had encountered as the Champion of Terraria.
He put the blade away again.
"Maybe once this is all over, we could get a drink at Angel's Share, and you could let me have a look at that blade." Kaeya said before a short laugh.
"Perhaps so, Kaeya, we'll see," Phineas said.
"Not to cut that short, but it seems we've arrived." Kaeya said, pointing in front of them.
A similar structure to the one Phineas pointed out earlier protruded out of the cliffside, red strips of light adorning the sides of the structure, a slight semi-transparent red material covering the door.
Kaeya touched the door of the temple, the lights quickly fading to a more neutral blue color.
"So, are you ready to go in?" Kaeya asked.
"If you are." Phineas replied.
The two men pushed either side of the door, opening it, before stepping inside. The door shut with the grind of stone behind them.
The first thing that happened after walking into the temple was being assaulted by the smell of burning slime. A smell that Phineas was used to throughout his journey, but one that did not get any better to stomach with time.
Kaeya, noticing the visible disgust on Phineas' face, spoke up, "Can you smell that? I can only imagine that there will be Slimes, Hilichurls, and whatever's powering up Stormterror further in."
Walking down a long hallway, the two were met with a wide-open room, down below was a shallow pond of water with a few Hilichurls in it. The roof of the room was caved in and was giving a clear view of the rest of the Domain, a large structure that looks dilapidated and covered in dirt.
Phineas points to the structure through the hole, "That place seems important."
"If I had to guess, that's where the end of the temple should be." Kaeya mused.
"Well, no time like the present." Phineas said as he leapt off the ledge the two were standing on. Kaeya followed behind soon after.
Before the two could even advance they came face to face with Hilichurls shouting at them and beginning to charge. Kaeya held his sword up to his side, the blade covered in frost and ice before thrusting it in the direction of the charging Hilichurls. "Freeze!" Two of the three Hilichurls were frozen solid, like ice sculptures.
Phineas followed up with a different weapon in his arsenal, A green yo-yo. Winding up and throwing the yo-yo, it slammed into one of the frozen Hilichurls causing it to shatter and crumble into the familiar black substance. The yo-yo then hovered in the air where it made contact with the previous Hilichurl before spinning up and releasing a ton of ethereal saw blade like projectiles that cut down the other two Hilichurls with ease, one dropping another fractured mask almost identical to the one he collected earlier.
"You're full of surprises, aren't you? Guess you'll also just have to tell me about that one later too." Kaeya spoke, walking through the now opening door.
Rounding the corner, the two were met with a few flamethrowers, Kaeya walked over to the emitter and placed his hand on it. Sending freezing cold power of Cryo straight into the machine's core disabling the flamethrower. Repeating the process with another flamethrower down the path the two were taking. It looks like the path is quickly becoming a dead end; however Phineas could feel the updraft force of a wind current nearby.
"We could use the wind current to fly up, unless you have something else in mind?" Phineas asked.
"It seems that way, let's head up then."
The two warriors jumped into the nearby wind current and used its force to scale the side of the domain. "I'm impressed really," Kaeya said. "Being able to hold your own, without a vision no less, is quite the sight to behold… The Knights of Favonius could use more talent like you."
The two touch down on the upper part of the large structure. "I'm flattered, but I think I'm a little too unorthodox for that kind of stuff." Phineas replied.
"Well, if you ever change your mind, I'm sure the Acting Grandmaster would love to have you join the fold." Kaeya spoke while walking over to a terminal.
Placing his hand on it, the device lit up, the various runes and designs covering the terminal glowing a bright white. The door next to the terminal comes to life, flashing a natural blue before opening up into the topmost room of the domain.
The room was filled with Pyro Slimes, the smell was so pungent that Phineas had to plug his nose. "Well, I guess we found the source of the smell." Phineas sarcastically mused.
Kaeya pointed to a blue crystal in the back of the room. "That Hydro Amber, when broken, will splash water all over the room. If it doesn't stop the smell, it will at least put out their fires, giving us the advantage."
Phineas pulled out the Zenith, "Sounds like a plan." The sword levitated in front of him before pointing at the amber in the back of the room. With a forward thrust of his arm, the Zenith rocketed towards the Amber, shattering it into pieces as water gushed out from the now fractured base of the crystal like a geyser. The Pyro Slimes, now agitated that they're covered in water, start swarming the two.
The Zenith flies back to Phineas as it slices down any Slimes in its path. Kaeya engages the closest Slimes, freezing them before shattering them with his sword. Phineas brings up a hand as the Zenith splits apart into a wheel of blades. Taking a pitcher's stance, he mimics pitching a ball as the wheel of blades tears through the Slimes like a large boomerang.
They clean up the last few slimes before another door up a set of stairs opens. "It shouldn't be too much further now." Kaeya said, taking the lead. "Hmm. There are spikes in the water so we can't swim across, I might just have to freez-" Kaeya paused as soon as he saw what Phineas was doing.
Phineas paused and turned around, "Have to do what?" Kaeya's face was full of shock. "What's wrong?" Phineas asked.
"You're just… walking on the water…"
Phineas' mouth made a small o upon realization. "My boots let me walk on water as if it was solid, among other things." He continued. "I have a lot of equipment that helps with overall combat performance or just grants strange abilities. Like walking on water."
Kaeya sighed and shook his head. He kneeled and placed a hand on the surface of the pool, ice spread from his fingertips and froze over the surface of the pool, making traversal possible for him. Crossing the pool and rounding a corner, the two ascended the final flight of stairs into the final room of the domain.
Right in the center of the room was a seafoam green crystal swirling with Anemo energy. "Guess my intuition was correct." Kaeya said. "That crystal must be what Stormterror is using to gain power… We must destroy it."
Phineas nods and walks up to the crystal taking out his Solar Flare Hamaxe to smash the crystal to pieces. With a swing of his tool, the crystal shatters and releases a violent storm of wind, the two having to cover their faces to protect themselves.
The winds do not last long, however, and die out. Kaeya brushes off his shoulders and dusts his hands, "That was quite the performance, and the battles we shared were sights to behold."
Phineas shook his head. "I was only doing what was right…" He spoke.
"But I'm sure the people of Mondstadt will remember your valor, maybe a bard will make a song in your honor, even. However,"
Phineas suddenly felt a cool presence in the room, hidden out of sight. "there's no way Hilichurls organized a seizure of this temple like this, not with their limited mental capacity." Kaeya mused.
Bolts of water were shot at the two. Both make quick reactions to either block the bolts or dodge them. They both look up to a small creature cackling at them. It was wearing a blue and white robe with a white bird-like mask over its face. Holding an exotic looking gem staff.
"Thus, YOU were behind this!" Kaeya brandished his blade, pointing it at the new arrival. The being chanted in a language unheard of to Phineas as it held the staff high above its head, as water started to coalesce all around it.
The three stood in a standoff, neither making a move as tension was quickly rising. Phineas, however, felt an intense heat from behind, and the Abyss Mage also picked up on it as it turned its head towards the now incoming flames. Running behind the fire was a man with fire red hair, clothed almost wearing all black.
As the flames reached the Abyss Mage, the new figure grabbed its head and spun around, throwing it onto the floor, past Kaeya, and Phineas. As the man followed through with his attack and pushed his advantage on the now tumbling Abyss Mage, Kaeya glanced at him as he passed them both, keeping an indifferent stance with his arms crossed.
The man unsheathed a large claymore, scraping it across the floor as he ran. He jumped into the air performing a downward aerial slash at the Mage as his blade lit up with burning red flames... It panicked and attempted to erect a barrier with its staff, but the now burning hot claymore evaporated the Hydro barrier in an instant. The Abyss Mage was pelted into the floor, it tumbled and rolled into a nearby column, and slumped over unconscious.
The red-haired man stood up with his back to the duo and flicked his claymore, the flames on the blade put out in an instant. "Knights of Favonius." He spoke up as the dust settled. "Always so inefficient."
Phineas narrowed his eyes at the man, while Kaeya was clapping his hands like he was applauding a good show. "Agree to disagree." Kaeya retorted. "But your involvement in this just made things a whole lot more interesting, Diluc."
A/N
I hope everyone is now out of school for the summer. Sorry this took a little while, my computer's SSD died and I had to get it replaced.
I'm sure that I've also mentioned that I'm playing Genshin side by side as I write this. I used some free pulls on the Noelle banner and somehow managed to get not only Noelle, but also Diluc and Beidou in the same set of 10.
Thanks again to IDrmzIt for being my lore consultant.
Catch you all on the flip side.